Originally posted 2008-04-15 05:34:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
I’ll be home for a week tomorrow and I think I’ve finally recovered from my disastrous trip home (I was on American and my flight was last Tuesday). I think I’m sticking with Southwest, Virgin, and JetBlue from now on.
If I was writing a business blog, I would already have weighed in on the PR and business disaster which American brought on themselves by how they handled this. Since I’m not, I’ll focus on the Dallas show.
I hardly got away from my table, so I didn’t see much of anything at all in any of the suites. From the vendors I spoke with some had good shows, some had bad shows.
I like many of the things the folks at Dallas do. They are working hard to make the show distinct. One example is having show exclusives for shops who attend. If your LNS was there, look for them, virtually every vendor who was there had some.
I like that self-publishers, like me, can have a table at the show. Many of the teachers did not take advantage of this, but publishing our own books and stitch guides is important for needlepoint. Mainstream publishers don’t publish needlepoint books, they don’t sell enough, and new technology is making self-published books better all the time. This is an area of the show I’d like to see showcased more, and not just for my own sake.
And I love what we did with the Witchy Basket. Shops who took the class (and it was full with a waiting list) are the only shops who will be able to order the canvas and stitch guide until May 2009. This makes the basket a powerful marketing tool for the shops. As stitchers we know the popularity of clubs, exclusive designs, and stitch guides. By having unique projects like this, a ship can become a mecca for stitchers, not just locally, but on the web as well.
I’d like to see shows like Dallas grow. Vendors are coming and that list is growing. But the question always for shows like this is whether the shops come. If you like the innovations the Dallas market has, let your shop know.
It’s only going to get better.
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That Dallas show has been a disaster and getting worse for the last five years since the new “regime” tried to get it going again after it died. I doubt it will be held again – I didn’t even bother to send anything or go this year except my Creative Needle things, which Inge bought the rights to. The Phoenix cash/carry is going under too since TNNA took it over.
This year the show was up in attendance and I think it’s going to grow, given the costs for shops to attend shows further away.
You’re right about the Phoenix show, but I think it was not in the best of shape even before TNNA bought it. This year that late summer show has been moved from Phoenix to near St. Louis. Although it is way to early to tell, the location has some real possibilities for reaching shops in the middle part of the country.
Phoenix was fun when Sundance was doing it – I did very well in 1997. I won’t go to the new one, tho’ as it’s not a vacation.
lol, this is a great post. i will definitely tell everyone about this